Republican Robert Blaha purchased a 60-second TV spot after the Denver Broncos playoff game Jan. 17, the first public indication that he is preparing to officially launch his U.S. Senate bid.

Blaha, who lost a 2012 congressional bid, spent $9,000 of his own money on the TV ad that will air on CBS, registering it under the name “Robert Blaha for U.S. Senate.”

In an interview Thursday, Blaha confirmed he bought the time and will enter the race — a move he telegraphed in September and then delayed for months. He plans to roll out the campaign in a series of events in the coming days.

“We are not official yet, but it’s pretty obvious the direction we are going,” he told The Denver Post.

Republican State Sen. Tim Neville, left, talked to a supporter at the official kickoff for his U.S. Senate bid at campaign headquarters in Littleton. (Photo by John Frank, Denver Post)

Republican State Sen. Tim Neville cast his U.S. Senate bid in strong conservative terms Tuesday evening as he hosted an official kickoff event that drew about 100 people to his campaign headquarters in Littleton.

The first issue he listed in describing his motivation to run: abortion.

“We all know we have a lot of problems in Washington. When an organization like Planned Parenthood ignores the law, kills the unborn, sells their body parts for profit and we have both parties that can’t even come together to end this tragedy, we have an issue with leadership,” he said referencing some of the debunked claims based on videos about the health care provider. Neville said he would support a bill to declare that life begins at conception and outlaw abortions.

In a roughly 20-minute speech, Neville went on to blast Democrats — particularly President Barack Obama and U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet — on a litany of issues, including immigration, Iran, energy regulation, Obamacare, Common Core, unions, spending, religious freedom, gay marriage and the Second Amendment.

U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet marveled at Colorado’s beauty on his first trip to the eastern plains in 2009. (Lynn Bartels, The Denver Post)

Two leading environmental organizations on Friday endorsed U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet’s re-election campaign, a move designed to allay concerns about the Democrat’s problems with his party’s base.

The League of Conservation Voters Action Fund and the NRDC Action Fund — an affiliate of the National Resources Defense Council — touted his work to address climate change, protect Colorado’s natural resources and champion renewable energy.

It comes after Bennet, a freshman lawmaker, took considerable heat in recent months from environmental activists whose support he will need in 2016 when he faces a tough race for a second six-year term.

Colorado U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, far left, sits on stage at a retreat for Koch donors in California. (Photo courtesy of Freedom Partners)

Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner attended a weekend retreat for the Koch brother’s political network at a seaside California resort.

The Republican was one of six U.S. senators to attend the event that drew 450 wealthy conservative donors, according to media reports. Much of the attention focused on the 2016 GOP presidential candidates but Gardner’s name was mentioned along with other rising star Republican elected officials.

This is not Gardner’s first Koch fete. In June 2014, Gardner attended another donor summit at the St. Regis Monarch Beach resort in Dana Point, Calif., amid his Senate bid.

The latest Quinnipiac University poll numbers offered an intriguing glimpse at Colorado’s U.S. Senate race a year before the action starts.

If the election were held today, Colorado voters don’t believe U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet deserves a second term, with 32 percent supporting him and 40 percent opposed. Another 28 percent are undecided about the Denver Democrat, according to the poll.

His approval rating is better — and may be a better indication of the fight ahead for Republicans seeking to challenge him. His approval is 41 percent to 34 percent disapproving and 25 percent undecided. The poll’s margin of error is 2.8 percentage points.

The poll’s methodology is raising questions — Quinnipiac doesn’t work from a voter list, it may under-represent Latinos and women, and can oversample Republicans, all complaints Democrats are lodging — as is the polling firm’s mixed record in Colorado, given the misses in the 2012 presidential election and the 2014 governor’s race.

But right now, the Quinnipiac surveys are the only public polls we are seeing. (The Democratic Public Policy Polling is another frequent pollster, but the North Carolina-based firm hasn’t released a survey since November 2014, when it found Bennet’s approval at 30 percent with 35 percent disapproving.)

Bennet’s re-election contest is considered one of the most competitive U.S. Senate races in the 2016 election, particularly given Colorado’s swing-state status and U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner’s upset bid against Democratic incumbent Sen. Mark Udall in 2014.

“I think for Colorado to have the strongest presence in the U.S. Senate it is going to take a fairly independent voice that will address some of the key issues in our state,” Roberts said by phone. “I feel like I have that to offer, if I decide to run.”

Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet raised more than $2 million in the first quarter of the year, his campaign will report Tuesday — a huge boost to start his re-election bid and one of his best fundraising periods ever.

His campaign report will show $2.9 million in the bank at the end of March, according to an announcement first obtained by The Denver Post.

Bennet started the 2016 cycle with $1.2 million in the bank, a solid sum but one that drew concerns given the race’s high-profile status and his prominent role in the party’s 2014 operation.

“Michael’s proud of the support he’s received from grassroots donors across Colorado, and that’s reflected by our fundraising this quarter,” said Bennet campaign manager Dan McNally.

The campaign says 80 percent of the first quarter donations were $100 or less. Further details won’t be available until the full report is made public soon.

Other nonpartisan polls — and a polling average — put his disapproval deficit at closer to 16 percentage points.

Still, the poll shows that 58 percent of Colorado want the next president to change direction, compared to 34 percent who believe his successor to continue his policies.

Even though Obama won’t face re-election again, the numbers are still being closely watched as an indication for how Democrats will perform in 2016 — when Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet, a Democrat, is running for a second term.

The president’s approval numbers appear mixed in the 2016 context, but another number looks good for Bennet, if he can tap into the sentiment: 69 percent are satisfied with how things are going in Colorado, compared to only 31 percent dissatisfied.

The numbers — as well as ratings of the state’s economy — are the best in all recent Quinnipiac polls, going back to June 2013.

U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet’s campaign announced Tuesday it hired Dan McNally as campaign manager for his 2016 re-election bid.

McNally most recently served as regional political director for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, working with Bennet, who led the DSCC’s campaign efforts in 2014. In 2012, he advised the campaign of Rep. Mark Takano of California from his position at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. He also worked for congressional campaigns in the 2010 and 2012 cycles.

Bennet is one of the few vulnerable Democrats facing re-election in 2016 — which will only further put Colorado in the political limelight as an important state next year.

“Dan has years of experience working on some of the most competitive House and Senate races in the country. Adding him to our team will ensure we run a strong and winning campaign that allows our office to continue serving Coloradans and fighting for the state in the U.S. Senate,” Bennet said in a statement.

McNally offered a glimpse at Bennet’s campaign themes in a statement announcing his new role.

Bennet “has a reputation as someone who offers solutions and cuts through the dysfunction to get things done for Colorado. It’s the hard work that he and his office have put in over the last few years that are why he will win re-election in 2016,” McNally said.

Smart Politics’ Eric Ostermeier at the University of Minnesota found that libertarian U.S. Senate candidates in 10 of the 20 states where they appeared on the ballot set new high-water marks for support.

Joey Bunch has been a reporter for 28 years, including the last 12 at The Denver Post. For various newspapers he has covered the environment, water issues, politics, civil rights, sports and the casino industry.